During laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon often creates a trocar wound; a round hole in tissue that exposes the inside of a body cavity, such as the abdomen. Once the surgery is completed, the trocar wound must be closed. The difficulty lies in creating a loop suture to complete circumferential ligatures around such wounds. More precisely, it is difficult to loop a suture into a body cavity on one side of a wound and get the suture to exit the body cavity on the other side of the wound so the suture ends can be tied to close the trocar wound.
A prior art solution involves using a single needle device, such as the Grice Suture Needle, marketed by Ideas for Medicine, Inc. In this prior art device, the needle is first forced through the tissue while carrying the end of a suture into the body cavity. The needle is then retracted (leaving the end of the suture in the body) and is inserted again on the other side of the wound. A grasper is used to guide the end of the suture to the tip of the reinserted needle. The needle includes a suture holding indentation near its tip in which the suture is secured as the needle is again withdrawn. The suture is then tied to close the wound.
While the prior art procedure is adequate for wound closure, the single+needle procedure includes sequential insertions of the needle into the body cavity, requiring significant surgical skill and manipulation. The sequential process also takes significant time to complete. Further, loss of the suture end from the needle as it is withdrawn is a problem.
It would therefore be advantageous to have a device which could create a loop around a wound, such as a trocar wound, in a shorter time or with less surgical manipulation, in a manner which minimizes the chance of inadvertently losing hold of the suture during needle withdrawal.